In Briefs: China Earns First Gold Medals of 2011 World Aquatics Championships

Today, in the outdoor “Crescent Lagoon” pool, the home nation of the 14th FINA World Aquatics Championship struck first blood when the pair of Minxia Wu and Zi He won gold in the women’s 3 meter late on Saturday afternoon.

After winning 5 out of the last 6 World Championships in this event, as well as the last two Olympic gold, Wu has been able to maintain her magic with new partner He. The pair also took the title at last year’s FINA World Diving Cup. The Chinese women were absolutely dominant in this event, and had the highest score in each of the 5 rounds of the competition. They ended up winning by about 43 points, which is a sizable margin.

The runners-up were Emille Heymans and Jennifer Abel of Canada, followed by Anabelle Smith and Sharlene Stratton from Australia for the bronze. By earning podium spots, the top three teams have automatically qualified for next years Olympics.

The Americans, Christina Loukas and Kassidy Cook, were 7th. The Russian pair of Svetlana Philippova and Anastasia Pozdniakova finished a disappointing 8th, despite taking silver at last year’s FINA Diving World Cup

6
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

6 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
JAG
12 years ago

Fu would still be only 32.

aswimfan
12 years ago

Wu Minxia is different from Fu Minxia?
Yes, she was who I thought Wu is. I think Fu Minxia already won gold in 1992 Barcelona, that’s why I was so surprised to find her name still active!

JAG
12 years ago

Aswim

You are thinking of FU Mingxia.

aswimfan
12 years ago

Wu Mingxia is still diving? And winning?

She’s incredible.

JAG
12 years ago

Robin -both sports were better when they still had compulsories /first lists.

Robin
12 years ago

I admire divers and gymnasts so much.
Congrats to the medallists!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »